Dave Enjoys

Book Review: We Are the Beloved (Author: Ken Blanchard).

davemackey — Sat, 19 May 2012 00:58:05 +0000

For years I never liked gift books or coffee table books. They were such small or large sizes and seemed like cheap and sentimental ways to say “I care.” More recently I’ve changed my tune…well, I’m still not huge on coffee table books, but the gift books – those small, short reads – I’m giving them a chance. Why? I won’t bore you here, but if you want, you can read the footnote.^[1]

One of these little gift books is We Are the Beloved: A Spiritual Journey by Ken Blanchard. Blanchard is best known for co-authoring the successful business management book The One Minute Manager and its younger siblings. In We Are the Beloved we find a mixture of elements – auto-biography, leadership, management, and spiritual insights, and a good list of names and books Blanchard has found particularly influential in his life.

This books was published in 1994 – so it is quite old. At the time Blanchard had been a Christian for “only ten years” – but from what I’ve seen he continues as a Christian till this day and continues to write books on leadership, management, and spirituality.

This volume isn’t amazing. On a ten point scale I might give it a 6 or 7 – but it is an experiential book, not a knowledge acquisition book…and we generally need a large supply of these volumes (at least I do) so that I can constantly be reminded of basic truths…So this isn’t the first book I recommend you go out and buy, but it also isn’t a bad read.

I found the writing style a bit dry and he told me a bit more about various minutiae than I cared to know, but it still was encouraging and challenging to me. Blanchard’s honesty about his intellectual and volitional struggles in becoming and then living as a Christian will ring a tone – especially for those who work a normal work-a-day life.

^[1] I’ve come to the conclusion that there is at least two types of non-fiction reading which the individual can undertake – both of which is useful to the rounded development of the individual. There is a lot of cross-over between the two and I believe one should be able to pull from each type some of the other, but lets not quibble over semantics. The first type is the knowledge acquisition book. This tells us information which helps us. It may be a history book, a book on leadership, a science textbook, or any number of other works…but its primary goal is to provide us with information we can use to change our lives. The second type is the experiential book. These books provide us with information, by and large, we already know but oftentimes fail to implement. Sure, I know I shouldn’t sweat the small stuff – but I do. Sure, I know God loves me – but I don’t act like it, and so on. These books primarily carry us through the experience of truth, providing basic restatements of fundamental truths. ↩

Book Review: Isaac Newton (Author: James Gleick)

davemackey — Fri, 04 May 2012 03:36:07 +0000

Review

I’m not sure why or how my interests became directed towards Isaac Newton – but they did and they are. Somehow I picked up, as if by accident, at least four volumes

Isaac Newton Dansk: Sir Isaac Newton Français : Newton (1642-1727) Bahasa Indonesia: Issac Newton saat berusia 46 tahun pada lukisan karya Godfrey Kneller tahun 1689 Lietuvių: Seras Izaokas Niutonas 1689-aisiais Македонски: Сер Исак Њутн на возраст од 46 години (1689) Nederlands: Newton geboren 4 januari 1643 Türkçe: Sir Isaac Newton. (ö. 20 Mart 1727) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

which by and large discuss Newton in one manner of another. One of these is James Gleick’s biography entitled simply Isaac Newton.

An attractive paperback book with the tide washing against the shore and Newton’s name written large in golden letters it weighs in at over 289 pages – but this is a bit deceptive. The actual biography covers 197 pages which are then followed on pp. 199-248 by endnotes and after that comes acknowledgements, an extensive bibliography, and a comprehensive index and some other lighter “bonus” material of relatively low worth.

The man (Isaac Newton) and his discoveries and times are fascinating – so it is impossible for a book about him to lack, to some extent, substantive content and interest…but I must admit, contrary to the glowing reviews found adorning this volume by various reviewers, I found the book overall to be disappointing. That said, I have not read a book better than this one on Newton – so for the time being it is the only recommendation I can make…though I hope in upcoming weeks and months to read the other volumes I have acquired and perhaps be able to offer better recommendations in the future.

Suffice it to say that Newton as an individual is well worth studying – and Gleick’s book provides one opportunity to do so – but that better opportunities may abound, yet unknown to me.

Why this criticism of Gleick’s work? It is evident that Gleick has spent ponderous amounts of time researching everything related to Newton and his times and it is not in substance that the work disappoints as much as it is in style and comprehensiveness. To be specific, here are my criticisms:

The book appears to be a popular rather than scientific biography of Newton, yet its entry into scientific topics is not done in such a manner as is readily understandable by the lay individual (and here I am using myself as an example of this individual). One feels overwhelmed by the constant pace of scientific information presented and struggles to comprehend all that is being said.
Again, along the popular lines, there is the issue of quotations. Gleick chose to use original spellings in providing quotations from various individuals – including Newton – and English has changed significantly over time…so much so that this adds (imho) unnecessary difficulty and complexity to the text. Highlighting the differences in spelling is interesting, but could have been provided with a few examples instead of comprehensive use in quotations and overall obfuscates the more important concepts and historical occurrences Gleick is recording.
The narrative feels choppy – and I understand that at least parts of this come from the lack of reliable information regarding Newton (due to a number of contributing factors) – but Gleick leaves this choppiness present in the narrative, leaving us feeling as if large portions have been left out that he could have included if he wished to, rather than explaining that we simply do not know what happened in such and such an instance.
Finally, I find the use of end-notes somewhat frustrating. I find footnotes much more friendly and useful and did not really approach the end-notes in this volume (at least to this point) due to the difficulty of navigating endnotes while reading a text.

All these negatives aside – I do not mean to lambast Gleick’s book. Gleick has accomplished something significant and I find that, at least for me, my understanding of concepts grew through simple repetition as I worked through the volume. There is so much about Newton that is simply fascinating – and much which Gleick teases out (while at the same time leaving so much unexplored!), let me share with you just a few of the choice ideas and quotes I noted in reading the book (my volume is heavily underlined and has notes in the margins throughout).

“For since we are finite, it would be absurd for us to determine anything concerning the infinite; for this would be to attempt to limit it and grasp it. So we shall not bother to reply to those who ask if half an infinite line would itself be infinite, or whether an infinite number is odd or even, and so on. It seems that nobody has any business to think about such matters unless he regards his own mind as infinite.” – Descarte, pg. 40.
“We are among infinities and indivisibles, the former incomprehensible to our understanding by reason of their largeness, and the latter by their smallness.” – Galileo, pg. 42.
“Far away across the country multitudes were dying in fire and plague. Numerologists had warned that 1666 would be the Year of the Beast. Most of London lay in black ruins: fire had begun in a bakery, spread in the dry wind across thatch-roofed houses, and blazed out of control for four days and nights.” – pg. 47.
Nicolaus Copernicus was an astronomer, mathematician, and astrologer. – pg. 50.
“He [Isaac Newton] was looking inward as well as outward. Introspection told him that his imagination could see things as they really were. ‘Phantasie is helped,’ he noted, ‘by good aire fasting moderate wine.’ But it is also ‘spoiled by drunkenesse, Gluttony, too much study’. He added: from too much study, and from extreme passion, ‘cometh madnesse’.” – pg. 61.
The Royal Society and the scientific revolution in may ways are similar to much that we see in the current time revolving around information technology, the internet, and the singularity. – My observations, based in part on pg. 74.
“A German Jesuit, Athanasisu Kircher, revealed secrets of the subterranean world: for example, that the ocean waters continually pour into the northern pole, run through the bowels of the earth, and regurgitate at the southern pole.” – pg. 78 (no, we don’t believe that anymore).
“By Newton’s thirties his hair was already grey, falling to his shoulders and usually uncombed…He stayed in his chamber for days at a time, careless of meals, working by candlelight. He was scarcely less isolated when he dined in the hall. The fellows of Trinity College learned to leave him undisturbed at table and to step around diagrams he scratched with his stick in the gravel of the walkways. They saw him silent and alienated, with shoes down at hell and stockings untied. He feared disease – plague and pox – and treated himself pre-emptively by drinking a self-made elixir of turpentine, rosewater, olive oil, beeswax and sack. In fact he was poisoning himself, slowly, by handling mercury.” – pg. 101.
“Newton was a mechanist and a mathematician to his core, but he could not believe in a nature without spirit. A purely mechanical theory of the world’s profusion of elements and textures — and for their transformations, from one substance to another — lay too far beyond reach.” – 102.
“Like other alchemists, he conceived of mercury not just as an element but as a state or principle inherent in every metal. He spoke of the ‘mercury’ of gold.” – 103.
“Astronomers still doubled as astrologers; Kepler and Galileo had trafficked in horoscopes.” – pg. 106.
Newton wrote privately about many theological matters and quite extensively. He struggled with the doctrine of the Trinity and according to Gleick “denied the divinity of Jesus and the Holy Ghost.” – pg. 109.
“He set down a catalogue of fifteen rules of interpretation and seventy figures of prophecy…He calculated and then recalculated the time of the Second Coming, which he understood to be the restoration of primitive uncorrupted Christianity.” – pg. 110.
“In theology as in alchemy, he felt himself to be questing for ancient truths that had been perverted in the dark history of the past centuries. Knowledge had been lost, veiled in secret copies to hide it from the vulgar, distorted by blasphemers, priests and kings.” – pg. 113.
“Newton plumbed both nature and history to find out God’s plan. He rarely attended church.” – pg. 115.
“Philosophy is such an impertinently litigious Lady that a man had as good be engaged in Law suits as have to do with her. I found it so formerly & now I no sooner come near her again but she gives me warning.” – Isaac Newton, pg. 131.
“He [Newton] scoured Greek texts for clues to his belief that the ancients had known gravity and even the inverse-square law.” – pp. 151-52.
“An active interventionist, God must organise the universe and the solar system: otherwise substance would be evenly diffused through infinite space or gathered together in one great mass. Surely God’s hand could be seen in the division between dark matter, like the planets, and shining matter, like the sin.” – Gleick communicating the thought of Newton, pg. 152.
“Sexual feelings, too, troubled Newton’s nights. He had long since embraced celibacy.” – pg. 153.

“The way to chastity is not to struggle directly with incontinent thoughts but to avert the thoughts by some imployment, or by reading, or meditating on other things…” – Newton, pg. 153.

“The Analysis of the Ancients is more simple more ingenious & more fit for a Geometer than the Algebra of the Moderns.” – Newton, pg. 155.
“With few exceptions his treatises remained in the purgatory of his private papers.” pg. 156.
“In Berlin, Leibniz told the Queen of Prussia that in mathematics there was all previous history, from the beginning of the world, and then there was Newton; and that Newton’s was the better half.” – pg. 161.
“Newton was seen now was the curator of a hoard of knowledge, its extent unknown. Wallis told Newton he owed to the public his hypothesis of light and colour, which Wallis knew he had suppressed for more than thirty years, and much more – a full optical treatise.” – pg. 167.
“A slightly naughty thought can come to one’s mind here. The tools that he [Newton] gave us stand at the root of so much that goes on now….We [contemporary scientists] may not be doing a lot more than following in his footsteps. We may still be so much under the impression of the particular turn he took…we cannot get it out of our system.” – Hermann Bondi, pg. 193.
“What Newton learned entered the marrow of what we know without knowing how we know it.” – pg. 193.
“Newton was not the first of the age of reason. He was the last of the magicians, the last of the Babylonians and Sumerians, the last great mind which looked out on the visible and intellectual world with the same eyes as those who began to build our intellectual inheritance rather less than 10,000 years ago.” – John Maynard Keynes, pg. 194.
Newton did extensive historical research as well and “declared the ancient kingdoms to be hundreds of years younger than generally supposed.” – pp. 194-5.

Thoughts

Whenever I approach a work like Gleick’s on Newton I find myself driven to a few (to me) self-evident truths:

Every work is about so much more than the topic it addresses, the indirect implications of the work are oftentimes more significant than the core content of the work. Thus, when we read a biography of Newton we learn lessons not just about science but about relationships (of which Newton had few and poor), of humility (as even the greatest minds struggle to understand what God hath wrought), of insanity (for there is more than a touch of it in Newton’s genius).
One item that stands out particularly (to me) from Gleick’s biography is the rapid advancement in science which occurred during this time and the seeming looming presence of paradise via technological innovation. I am, as many others with a technical or scientific bent, tempted to find such hopes again in present times – yet what history demonstrates is that technology without change in the core of humanity will not bring about paradise. That is, humanity will not find paradise without the removal of our brokenness (sin nature).
Another somewhat similar observation has to do with the necessity of humility in our observations. Newton was at odds with some of the greatest scientists of his times – Hook and Leibniz to name just two. Galileo made a mockery of Kepler, and so on. Newton himself spent tremendous amounts of time studying alchemy (the process of turning a material into gold), something which is fairly despised by modern science.
Finally, I see in the life of Newton the passion of genius, but also the loss of relationship. I ponder in my own life the opportunities for advancement and knowledge and understanding as opposed to the opportunities for compassion and relationship. Not that these two are opposed – I think they are meant to operate side by side rather than as opposites, but the extremes of one or the other may undermine the presence of the other.

Book Review: Isaac Newton by James Gleick(wanderingmirages.wordpress.com)
Isaac Newton’s notebooks open digital doors(news.cnet.com)
The life and loves of Isaac Newton(newscientist.com)
Book Review: Chaos: Making a New Science By James Gleick(wanderingmirages.wordpress.com)

Revealed: The fish that nearly sank Isaac Newton (dawn.com)
Sir Isaac Newton’s life rendered as KML (go.theregister.com)
Peek into Isaac Newton’s theology papers (newscientist.com)

Opinion: Is Philadelphia Biblical University Dancing with Satan?

davemackey — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 08:51:08 +0000

The Gutenberg Bible displayed by the United States Library of Congress, demonstrating printed pages as a storage medium. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Updated 5/1/12: Added to references section blog articles by Thom Turner and Jamie Gleason on the name change.

Introduction

In 2001 I left my home in Westerlo (New York) and took up residence in Souder Dormitory at Philadelphia College of Bible (PCB). The next year the name would change to Philadelphia Biblical University (PBU). In 2005 I graduated with a Bachelors of Science in Biblical Studies^[1]. In 2008 I returned to PBU as an employee in the Technology Services (aka Information Technology) Department and continue to work there till the present time.

Yesterday word was officially released that PBU has proposed a name change^[2] and this has, rightly, caused consternation within the alumni community specifically, but also within the evangelical community generally. My title is a bit hyperbolic, but the underlying question is valid – “What is happening at PBU? Are they abandoning the Christian faith?”

I’d like to take the opportunity to answer these questions from my perspective as an alumni, a local church leader, and an employee of PBU.

Not a Fan

I’d like to start by qualifying that this isn’t a puff piece for PBU. I’m not a huge advocate of the name change. When I was made aware the name change was coming down the pike I wrote Dr. Williams and suggested against it. I didn’t know the name at the time and when I learned the name I wasn’t particularly happy with it either. So, I’m not in love with the idea or the name.
On the other hand, I am not opposed to the name change nor do I think it is indicative of PBU losing its way. I hope you will take the time to hear me out as I explain why…

Sidebar on Leadership: I don’t always agree with the decisions Dr. Williams (or administration) makes regarding PBU…but working with a church for several years now I also realize that no one always agrees with the decisions of leadership. Part of a leader’s job is to make hard decisions folks won’t agree with…and both action and inaction will result in criticism and praise. As such, when I don’t disagree with an action by administration I try to make my opinion known to appropriate individuals and discuss it as given the opportunity but when the decision is made, I support it – even if it was not the decision I would have made.^[3]

They Got Rid of the Bible Major!

Before we talk about the proposed name change, lets talk about PBU’s decision to drop the requirement to major in Bible. For years and years the distinctive of PBU was that we required every student to graduate with a degree in biblical studies. You might major in social work, education, counseling, or so on and you would receive a degree in that major – but you also had to graduate with a biblical studies degree.

Recently this all changed. There is no longer a biblical studies degree requirement – but this doesn’t mean that students no longer study the Bible. Prior to dropping the degree requirement students all took 36 credits in biblical studies to earn their degree – now they take 30.

The fear of many is that PBU is losing its distinctiveness and its biblical foundation. There are many liberal arts Christian colleges which offer a Christian education that includes 6-12 credits in biblical studies. But this is not what PBU is doing – it is still requiring a significant load of biblical studies credits for each student, but without the degree requirement.

So why the change? Why not just leave the extra two courses in there and make everyone get a bible degree? It is so close! The answer is found in the way Pennsylvania requires higher education to divvy up courses for double majors.

If a student goes for a single major they need 120 credits. If they go for a dual-major they need 150 credits.^[4] It doesn’t matter if the student needs only 130 credits to fulfill the actual requirements for the dual degree – the state still requires them to take a minimum of 150 credits. By removing the degree requirement this allows PBU to reduce the number of courses the PBU student needs to graduate while still providing them with a very significant biblical education. This means a student may take less “filler” credits before graduation – which for some students can be a significant reprieve (in time and finances).

All that said – let me explain the reason why I am actually a big fan of the dropping of the bible degree requirement: balance. As a student at PCB/PBU and as someone who has worked with many PBU students in various capacities I know how much work goes into being a student at PBU…and it is a lot. I believe that removing the dual degree requirement increases the ability of students to manage and grow in their whole lives. Knowledge acquisition is not the end-all of education – character formation is also essential. Unfortunately, the academic load at PBU has at times facilitated knowledge acquisition without all of the necessary character formation – or even pushing students in the wrong direction in formation (e.g. workaholism).

Students will still need to grasp the opportunity – but the removal of the dual degree requirement will open up opportunities to develop deeper friendships, to spend time eating healthier, sleeping better, and perhaps spending some time in one-on-one counseling to work through personal issues^[5]…and finally, and for me most exciting, there is a larger opportunity for PBU students to be involved in local churches – not just in service but also in relationship.

Ohh, and one more thing…the bible degree isn’t gone. Any student can choose to get a dual degree and anyone who is studying a ministry specific area (e.g. pastoral, youth min.) must still get a bible degree. Only students who are primarily seeking an education in a non-biblical area don’t have to dual major but they still have to take a significant courseload of biblical studies courses.

From Biblical to Cairn?

If I was President of the United States…ohh wait, I don’t want that job, it is absolutely impossible to please everybody or even a majority of people most of the time. If I was President of Philadelphia Biblical University^[6] I wouldn’t have proposed a name change…Well, two things about that right off the bat:

Without being in Todd’s shoes I can’t tell you if I’d have proposed a name change. I assume I wouldn’t have at this time, but I haven’t been part of the discussions, prayers, or decisions which have led us to this point.
I’m not the President, and when it comes down to it there has to be one and then there has to be a bunch of followers, who are hopefully listened to, but in the end are still followers. A President should listen to his followers, his team, his comrades…but his team needs to follow when he leads.

Still, unity does not mean uniformity. So let me share with you my hesitations about the name change:

We just made a big change (dropping the bible degree requirement) which caused us bad press and is still misunderstood. Making another big change will cause more bad press at a rough-ish time (e.g. the economy still ain’t great folks!).
I understand folks don’t understand all that PBU entails, but I think we can change how people perceive us without changing our name…I want to spend more time on web marketing.^[7]
A name change is expensive in both finances and employee man hours. While most folks probably aren’t thinking, “Wow, it is going to be a lot of work for IT to see the name change through.” Let me tell you – it is going to be a MEGA MEGA MEGA load of work. Yes, I have nightmares. Yes, TS is currently understaffed and yes, this summer was already looking insanely busy – so no, I don’t want to do a name change right now.
A name change may divert attention from deeper issues (e.g. interdepartmental relationships, financial stewardship, student care, technological improvements, employee care, and so on). I think the University has made some great strides over the years in areas every institution struggles in – but I fear that the emphasis on the name change may redirect our attention off of more substantial opportunities for positive change.
I think Cairn is unfamiliar and difficult to spell. When I first heard it I thought, “Karen University?” Then I was wondering, “How do I spell it?” “Kairn.” “Caern.” “Karyn.” It isn’t all that intuitive. This brings up some significant concerns regarding our web presence. “Yes sir, please go to www.cairn.edu…No, not caern.edu, cairn. No, not karen.edu, cairn.edu.” And so on.

I’ll admit – the name has been growing on me. I’d heard the name some days before the announcement by Todd to faculty and staff on Tuesday (4/17/12) and really hadn’t liked it…but Todd did a good job of selling it at the faculty/staff meeting and while I’m still not a huge fan of the name, I’m not going to fight it. Especially since the Hebrew word for the same idea is “Hoth” and while I had thought maybe using the Hebrew could be a better idea – “Hoth” is like a planet from Star Wars or something…^[8]

Now, I know most folks have probably stopped reading by this point…but let me briefly add on why changing the University’s name is potentially positive:

We aren’t in Philadelphia and when articles such as “Philadelphia Closes 2011 with Highest Per-Capita Murder Rate in the U.S.” it may not be the most beneficial association when trying to convince parents that PBU is a safe and hospitable environment for their dearest beloved child(ren).
We are a biblical university that offers educational opportunities to folks entering vocational ministry as well as those entering the mainstream workforce…but the term biblical university is widely associated with an institution that educates only vocational ministers. This is problematic b/c our distinctive is in large part that an individual can get an excellent education in a mainstream profession while also getting a deep foundation in the Scriptures. We are a place for students who want to be pastors, missionaries, and other christian vocational leaders – but we are also a place for students who are Christians but aren’t interested in vocational ministry – e.g. many social workers, educators, scientists, counselors, and so on.^[9]
There are other reasons, but I don’t care about them that much, so I’ll skip them…

Conclusion

It is important for Christians to evaluate what their institutions are doing. Questioning the decision to drop the bible major requirement and to change the name are mature and thoughtful questions and should be asked. I have thought about these items for some time and discussed these topics with a number of individuals – including alumni and members of the evangelical community. I hope that my processing and thoughts on these matters can help you in your journey of processing this as well.

I would also note that, to me, there are more fundamental areas to look at for the integrity of an institution – whether that be a higher education, parachurch, or church institution. Look at any institutions constituency and you will find its true quality. Is there gossip amongst the constituency? Is there lying? Immorality? Ineptitude? Or is there integrity? Honesty? Love? Commitment? Look for the fruits of the Spirit in the lives of the constituency – or the absence thereof. This is the best thermometer we have for any institutions health.

I don’t think dropping the bible degree requirement or changing the University’s name indicate PBU is going apostate…but these changes also don’t mean it isn’t. The duty of the employees, of the students, of the alumni, and of the larger evangelical community is to walk well by the power of the Spirit and question deeply the weaknesses which appear within us.^[10]

P.S.

Yeah, I wrote this beginning around 3 a.m. on 4/19…definitely not reviewed or approved by PBU. =)

Additional Resources

I have compiled a list of additional resources which may be helpful to folks desiring to learn more about what is happening at PBU. Please let me know if you are aware of additional resources which may be of use. Note: I tend to curate and aggregate resources, I’m not one for filtering – unless the article is of poor quality. The presence of articles here does not indicate that I endorse the contents of the articles, but simply that they provide substantial content for thought, discussion, and perhaps ranting.

Dr. Todd Williams. “What Will and Will Not Change.” – April 19th, 2012. – Dr. Williams, President of PBU, has posted a video and article explaining the proposed name change.
J.R. Hughes. “Petition: To leave the name of the school as Philadelphia Biblical University.” – A petition that is open to all to sign who oppose the proposed name change.
Steve Weir. “I’m Changing My Name.” – April 18th, 2012. – Steve Weir, a PBU alumnus, former employee, and now Communications Director for Grace Point Church writes his thoughts on the name change.
Davey Ermold. “on…cairn?…university…” – April 19th, 2012. – Davey Ermold, another PBU alumnus, provides his thoughts on the proposed name change…Davey has experienced a shift from support of the PBU direction to increasingly questioning the direction – brought to a culmination in this decision.
Ricky Ragone. “_______________ ____________________ University?” – Ricky Ragone is yet another PBU alumnus, who also happens to be from my hometown in NY! Some good thoughts here as Ricky wrestled over time with the announcement of the name change.
Dr. Todd Williams. “Centered on Christ and His Word.” – Thanks to Ricky for mentioning this article in his post above. This is a solid article by Dr. Williams discussing the decision to drop the bible degree requirement.
Rev. William Smith. “What’s In a Name?” – April 19th, 2012 – Bill Smith, Pastor of First Baptist Church of Bristol and an alumnus of PBU shares his thoughts on the proposed name change.
Zak Fixler. “What is Queen?” – A thoughtful post by Zak, a current PBU student on the proposed PBU name change.
Carrie Givens. “We None of Us Deserve Forgiveness.” – April 19th, 2012. – Carrie was a classmate while I was at PBU and now is my co-worker (though in different departments). In addition to her work for the Communciations / Marketing Department she also teaches classes. She offers some thoughtful insider reflections on the proposed name change.
Thom Turner. “Being an Alumnus 101.” – Thom, who overlapped several years as a student during my undergraduate studies offers a somewhat scathing critique of criticism of the University for the name change.
Jamie Gleason. “My (Not So Fetal) Position.” – Jamie is a graduate of PBU then returned as an employee working first in Resident Life (now Student Life), then Admissions, and currently Alumni Relations. He provides his thoughts on the name change from the perspectives of different University constituents.

^[1] My emphasis was Pastoral Studies. ↩
^[2] The name change has not yet occurred. It is a proposed name which must face several additional hurtles before becoming official, if it does become so. ↩
^[3] And it is possible for folks to disagree without either side being wrong or stupid. Look at the disagreement between Paul and Barnabas found in Acts. ↩
^[4] Don’t quote me on that…I wasn’t able to look up the exact number that is required for a dual degree, the point is it is significant more than for a single degree. ↩
^[5] PBU offers free counseling to its students through the Oasis Counseling Center. Oasis was instrumental in assisting me in my life as an undergraduate student. It is also available to the public at $25/hr. ↩
^[6] No, I’m not vying for that position either, no worries Todd…I’m not gunning for your seat. ↩
^[7] I’ve been knee deep in this for the last year or so…and want to do so much more. ↩
^[8] Though Cairn is also an obscure telepathic race in Star Trek… ↩
^[9] The goal, thus, is not to flee from being biblical but rather to emphasize that we are not only vocationally biblical…and also that biblical knowledge is only for the vocational. Biblical knowledge is an asset to every person, and thus PBU (or maybe Cairn) provides a unique opportunity to anyone seeking a college degree – a solid education in many academic areas coupled with knowledge and character formation from the Scriptures. ↩
^[10] The day we find no area in need of improvement should be the day we die and are glorified…not a moment before. ↩

Goodbye Quizzle, Thank You CreditKarma.

davemackey — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 18:18:41 +0000

In 2010 I wrote about free credit card reporting services Quizzle and CreditKarma. At the time I recommended using them both – and while that still can’t hurt, I have to

Image via CrunchBase

say for me personally it is time to say goodbye to Quizzle and depend more fully on CreditKarma. Why? Well, a few quick reasons:

Quizzle is freemium. They let you refresh your credit card score once every six months…CreditKarma lets me refresh it all day if I want. Quizzle charges for extra refreshes – CreditKarma is nice and free.
Okay…really, that is the big reason, but I’ll also throw out there that I’m not particularly impressed with Intuit (which owns Quicken which owns Quizzle), in fact I’m downright disappointed. They’ve neutered a leading innovator in online money management (Mint) through failing to develop it further^[1] and their products, generally, over significantly overpriced (yikes, QuickBooks!). I don’t expect to see industry leading innovations from Intuit – they are a big behemoth that takes its time turning, like so many established enterprises – I generally prefer to look to the quick and nimble companies.^[2]
I don’t need Quizzle’s emails in addition to CreditKarma’s. I already have information (and email) overload…so this is an easy way to trim down the fat.

So, if you want to keep checking two credit reporting services – keep Quizzle…but to simplify life, I find CreditKarma to be more than sufficient.

^[1] Yes, yes, some features have been added…but I’ve almost stopped using it since better tools have been released… ↩
^[2] Thanks to Pete who pointed out that I was wrong about the relationship between Intuit and Quicken Loans…while they share branding this is a licensed relationship rather than a sub-entity, etc. ↩

Defraggler – Simple, Free Defragmentation.

davemackey — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 04:53:30 +0000

Piriform makes great products…and they are free (well, at least the basic versions…which include almost all the features). Defraggleris one of there relatively newer

Defraggler (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

products – but still a great tool. I used to use Auslogics Disk Defrag but have since moved to Defraggler.

For those who aren’t familiar with the concept of defragmentation – fragmentation is something that happens on your hard drive (of your computer) over time. As files are written to the hard drive sometimes they are placed in multiple locations around the hard drive – this is known as a fragmented file. It takes longer for your hard drive to read or write to a file that is in multiple locations than one that is in one location. The process of defragmenting is taking all of these file fragments and putting them back together.

This makes your computer run faster and also can help reduce various and sundry strange errors which pop up on occasion from fragmented files. I know some folks claim this can’t be – but I’ve seen time and time again where a defrag without a checkdisk or other repair will clear up a blue screen of death or other significant error.

What makes Defraggler so nice?

The price – free.
It includes the ability to schedule it to run automatically on a regular basis at a time of your choosing.
It shows you the status of files and how fragmented your drive is as it works – something Microsoft’s Disk Defragmenter used to do well, but now does poorly.
It allows you to defragment individual files if you so desire.
It is frequently updated.
It runs fairly fast.

Go grab your free copy.

MightyText – SMS Done Right.

davemackey — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 04:22:44 +0000

I prefer texting over phone calls, but emails, IMs, and most other forms of computer communication over either of these. But isn’t texting the same as computer-based

SMS messages sent monthly (June) in USA in million, source: http://www.cellsigns.com/industry.shtml (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

textual communications? Nope, its way slower. It takes FOREVER to type out messages on one’s phone keyboard, no matter how good it is…and writing on a real keyboard – well, it is just so much faster.

This is where MightyText comes into the picture. You install the MightyText app on your smartphone and then can use the web-based interface to send and receive text messages. When a text message is sent to your phone, it appears on your computer – and when you want to send a reply you can send it from your computer.

Sure, there are a lot of somewhat similar solutions out there – like Google Voice’s texting abilities – but these don’t reply from the number on your cell phone. The way MightyText actually works is that it communicates with the app. on the smartphone – both when it sends and receives messages – so even though you are writing the message (or reading it) on your computer it is literally being sent through your phone.

MightyText is fully functional at the base feature level. There are a few items I’d like to see incorporated, including:

If you read a message via the web app it should be marked as read on the phone.
You should be able to “archive” old sms messages and search the archives easily.

Do you use MightyText? Something else? Let me know!

Vision: From the Life of Hildegard von Bingen (Movie).

davemackey — Sat, 17 Mar 2012 17:43:43 +0000

Vision: From the Life of Hildegard von Bingen (Image via RottenTomatoes.com)

Today I watched one of those movies that I kept thinking, “I should watch that” but never quite felt in the mood. A foreign-language (German) biographical drama about a twelfth century nun, Hildegard von Bingen, it is one of those dramas that looks good but one wonders if it will be just another boring epic that drags on and on.

Happily, it was not such a dry and boring and epic and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I always enjoy biographical movies which inspire me an interest in the individual about whom the movie concerns. I find these films are useful both in arousing interest in myself and in others. How do we get someone to care about Martin Luther? Perhaps by showing them the film Luther. About Gandhi? Perhaps with the movie of the same name. Of Hildegard von Bingen? Perhaps with the film Vision.

Hildegard is not your run-of-the-mill medieval nun. Rather she experienced visions from God (whether true or false), was extremely intelligent, wrote on many topics including the sciences, was politically adept, and became a significant figure in a male-dominated society.

I didn’t find any ready articles addressing how historically accurate the film was – but the film was fascinating enough to elicit in me an interest to learn more about Hildegard…I think you will find it similarly fascinating.

But the film doesn’t rest solely upon the laurels of the story alone and its interaction with history. It is a visually lush film that depicts medieval architecture, clothing, and customs beautifully. At the same time, it avoids profanity, sex scenes, and while including some brief scenes around suffering, violence, suicide, and self-mutilation – these are not dwelt upon nor mined for perverse pleasure.

The film was written and directed by Margarethe von Trotta and stars several talented actors including Barbara Sukowa (Hildegard), Heino Ferch (Volmar), and Hannah Herzsprung (Richardis).

It is currently available for free streaming on Netflix.

Hildegard of Bingen, Doctor of the Church (womenintheology.org)
Sainting Hildegard (therestisnoise.com)

Outcasts (TV Show).

davemackey — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 03:38:13 +0000

The TV showsI really like always seem to get canceled. Does that mean I’m bad luck for those TV shows? Or that I have bad luck in choosing TV shows? Most likely it

Image via Wikipedia

has to do with the limited interest in the shows I find most enjoyable. Unfortunately, especially when it comes to broadcast TV, the shows which can appeal to the widest demographics are the ones that succeed…but in attempting to appeal to such wide demographics much is often lost. I hope that as internet TV continues to evolve we will see an increase in niche TV shows – since there won’t be the scarcity of time which currently occurs with broadcast TV, and overhead should also be less in creating the shows.

In any case, Netflix recently added a British show from BBC One called Outcasts – and I love it. I’ve just finished watching the first (and only) season. The show has been canceled and while one could desire much more – the first season is still well worth watching, being a semi-contained story within itself.

I can’t tell you too much about the storyline without exposing some of the many fascinating plots that arise…but the basic concept is that earth is becoming (or has become) uninhabitable due to mankind’s warfare and a new colony is being established on a distant planet – Carpathia. The story centers around the colonization of this new planet and all the challenges inherent with such an endeavor.

The show is not particularly fast-paced, rather it maintains a steady (not plodding) gait. When I watched the first episode I felt as if it was plodding a bit – but as I continued to watch I saw the design and beauty in the pace. Every episode tackles a story of its own while at the same time undertaking a greater mythos. At the same time the show focuses deeply on character development and relationships and offers up probing questions about some of humanities greatest questions.

The show is fairly clean – including by American standards – with no sex scenes, minimal skin, and a spattering of profane language (mainly of the British variety).

The cast is quite talented including Hermione Norris, Liam Cunningham, Daniel Mays, Amy Manson, and Ashley Walters. A favorite quote comes from the last episode in which Cass Cromwell (Mays) says to Richard Tate (Cunningham):

“Stop being so bloody laid back about it. Make like you care for once, about people not just your stupid ideas, your grand plans. This isn’t about humanity, this isn’t about the future, it definitely isn’t about pieces on the chessboard, its about [excluded], it’s about now.”^[1]

I think this is an interesting and true challenge for those who can dissociate themselves from the subjective emotions of an experience and hold fast onto objective fact While this ability to stand as an external and objective observer is useful, it can also be a downfall.

^[1] I excluded the name of what it is about, as it is important to the storyline. ↩

Automatic Pill Dispenser

davemackey — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 23:36:08 +0000

The Problem

I struggle with overpowering daytime sleepiness. This may be compounded by the fact I take Adderall XR for Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD).^[1] I recently went to my psychiatrist and discussed this issue with him^[2] and he gave me a supplemental Adderall prescription. This is not an uncommon method of dealing with this increased sleepiness once the medication wears off. I take the supplemental pill later in the day when the first one runs out.^[3] In addition to all this, I also take Prozac (fluoxetine) – 60 mg (three 20 mg tablets)^[4]. I filled my prescriptions and went home.

The next morning I went into my usual auto-pilot mode – taking medications and vitamins, brushing teeth, showering, deoderant and so on. It wasn’t until I had taken my medications that I realized I had accidentally taken three 20 mg Adderall tablets instead of three 20 mg Prozac tablets. Thankfully, this was not a critical overdose for me…but had it been another medication, it could have been.

But my personal mixup one morning is fairly simple compared to those faced by many others. I’ve worked a bit with the elderly, including those who are suffering from various forms of progressive brain degradation. These individuals find themselves in a dangerous place when they cannot remember during the day whether they have already taken their medications for the day or not. Many of them don’t want to move into assisted living homes just yet, and apart from this sort of minute detail are still capable of living independently…but an inability to remember when medications were last taken can quickly remove this independence.

Lets throw a few more problem areas into consideration. For example, I take vitamin supplements in addition to my medications – Vitamin B complex, Vitamin D, Daily MultiVitamin, Omega-3, and so on. It gets old very quick popping open eight or so different pill containers to get these pills out each and every day (and I know that many take many times more pills each day than I do). Some days I will just my medications and maybe one vitamin supplement and dash off to work…

Then there is the issue of regularity, especially for those with mental illness or who suffer side effects from taking a medication. It is always tempting to skip one day – a few – a week or two, a month. The efficacy of most medications is greatly reduced when taken in this haphazard way and for individuals with mental illness oftentimes results in a significant relapse.

And these are just a few of the challenges facing those who take medication and/or supplements on a regular basis. Sure, they are surmountable by willpower and self-discipline…but when technology can make our lives easier I prefer to spend my willpower and self-discipline on more substantive areas.

Proposed Solution

We’ll talk more about the complexity and cost of this solution later, but I want to note at this point that I believe this could be an extremely affordable solution. In early stages I wouldn’t want to see its cost exceed that of the Raspberry Pi computer at $35…and with wide utilization I would see this being a commodity product that would replace traditional pill containers at no-cost to the consumer.

If you know me, you know I’m not an artist, but here is my attempt to depict visually what the solution would look like…I’ll step through it as we go on…

Figure 1. Automatic Pill Dispenser

The automatic pill dispenser is expandable. The above figure represents a dispenser with six individual dispenser units. If one had only one medication, one would need only one dispenser. Each additional dispenser can simply be connected (think legos) to the next. Dispensers could vary in size – but the goal is that they be as small as possible, allowing for a good number of them to be connected together without consuming significant space.

Each dispenser would have a small display which would show the number of pills remaining in that dispenser.
Below that another small display showing the quantity an individual programmed the dispenser to give each day.
The Give button would dispense the above desired number of pills – if they had not already been dispensed for the day.
Holding down the Give button for ten seconds would force it to release an additional pill (e.g. if for some reason the system malfunctioned and dropped only one pill when it should drop two, this would allow one to “force” the system to drop another).
The + and – keys would be used to change both the number of pills in the unit and the quantity to be given each day. You’d hold down the plus key until one of the displays above began blinking. Whichever display was blinking indicates the display you would be changing for the value of.

Ideally, eventually pill boxes would no longer be distributed – each pill box would be one of these dispensers. It would come pre-programmed with the correct number of pills and dosage. Until such a time it doesn’t make sense to have the pill dispensers be disposed after each use – so they would be refillable. One would dump the new medications when received into the dispenser and reset the dosage and number of pills.

A Little More to It…

This in and of itself would be extremely helpful…but I’d like to take it a little further. Did anyone wonder why the units lock together? Besides making it orderly there is another reason. Each unit would have its own “intelligence” (that powers the display, etc.), but one would also have a lock-on extra unit that would contain a central brain. Really this brain would be very weak (and inexpensive). It would consist of a WiFi chip that would relay information from the pill dispensers to a central hosted server transparently.

Individuals could open up their web browser, type in the website (say davesamazingpilldispenser.com) and login using a username and password they select. Once inside they would be able to (a) set values from a web console rather than on each dispenser (this would be much quicker for those who have lots of pills), (b) determine accountability partners who would receive email alerts when the dispensers were not decrementing at the expected rate (e.g. someone stops taking their pills for x number of days perhaps the doctor, spouse, or family friend is notified via email or text message), (c) view (and share if desired) charts indicating their history of medication use (this would help, for example, when a medication needs to be taken 3x a day…the dispenser would mark each time the pill was taken and this could be analyzed by the individual or a doctor for issues).

Now, all of this can be done fairly simply and initially. Further on one might add the ability for the pill dispenser to automatically order refills of medications/vitamins via integration with online pharmacies / amazon for vitamins.

Talking About Price

The dispenser boxes are using fairly simple circuits and mechanisms. I don’t see any reason why these could not be manufactured very cheaply. I’ll work on putting together some figures – but my goal would be that each dispenser would not cost more than $5 and the WiFi component $5-$10. Thus, if one takes six medications and wants WiFi one might make an investment of $35-$40. Factor this out over a year and it is an expense I think worthwhile…and there is no reason the dispensers could not last for multiple years – especially if the web console is used instead of the buttons (which, over time, may wear out).

What It Won’t Do

There are a few things the initial pill dispenser wouldn’t do – though I think these features could be added over time. The biggest of these is that it won’t keep people from abusing it. That is – someone will be able to break open the pill dispenser, tell it to give more than they should be taking, or have the dispenser release pills and then throw them away. I believe the vast majority of issues with medication adherence are related more to accidents and forgetfulness than to deceit or other maliciousness. Creating safety mechanisms in the initial device would raise the cost significantly – and unnecessarily – for the vast majority of users.

Doesn’t Somebody Already Do This?

There are a few companies I found who build automatic pill dispensers. These include MedReady and ePill. However, I was disappointed in these units as they all lacked various features…and most significantly, they are quite expensive (anywhere from $100-$900). I think this industry is ready for disruption.

What Now?

I’m not sure. This is an idea I think is simple enough to be accomplished. I guess I’ll put out a call to see if anyone is interested. Maybe you are? I’d love to hear thoughts and contributions from the MAKE and Kickstarter communities and from those who would be interested in using/purchasing such a product. I see the components necessary to undertake this project and build a prototype as follows:

Manufacturing: We’d need to manufacturer the automatic pill dispenser. This would mainly be a simple pill box but with the addition of a mechanism to release pills.
Circuitry: We’d need to develop the circuitry to operate the machinery, interlock with other dispensers, and allow changes to the values stored by the dispenser.
WiFi: We’d need to create the wifi unit.
Web Console: Data would need to be parsed and displayed via a secure web portal.

If you work or are a hobbyist in any of these arenas, I’d be interested in hearing from you. The web console I could fairly easily take care of myself…but I do not have significant experience with building circuitry or manufacturing. I do have a good bit of programming experience, but not much in the area of device automation…

Money?

We can discuss how any revenues – should they arise – would be distributed…but at this juncture I am largely interested in creating a prototype. I’m willing to donate time and effort to the cause and are looking for others interested in doing so…but there isn’t any money here to start with, so no need to contact if you want to be paid up-front for your work…maybe someday there is a hope you might be…but, its just that a hope – for you and me.

If it comes down to it I’d rather see it implemented with no profit margin than derive profits with only limited distribution.

Thanks

Diagram.ly deserves a big thanks for their sweet and free online diagramming software I used to create my artistically challenged 2D diagram above.

^[1] My daytime sleepiness predates taking medication for ADD, so there isn’t a causative link. The Adderall does help me stay awake and focused, but when it flushes out of my system it may cause an additional “crash” in addition to the regular sleepiness struggle. ↩
^[2] Yes, I see a psychiatrist on a regular basis and have for a number of years. I feel a bit embarrassed about it – which is funny, as I talk about my mental health issues all the time…I guess saying one sees a psychiatrist makes the problems more “real” and “severe.” But I committed to reducing the stigma surrounding mental health issues, so I’ll leave this in the article. ↩
^[3] For those who would suggest that I may have a sleep disorder – e.g. sleep apnea or etc., I agree…though oftentimes the treatment for these disorders is similar to ADD. I have undergone a sleep study at Abington Hospital and am looking forward to an upcoming discussion regarding the results of that study with my primary physician. ↩
^[4] Yes, that does seem high…it is. Depression generally responds to significantly lower doses, but Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) does not and requires higher doses before it provides substantive relief. ↩

Understanding DNS.

davemackey — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 04:00:49 +0000

Sean Gallagher wrote this great article for Ars Technica entitled, “How Anonymous plans to use DNS as a weapon.” Yeah, it is a bit of a mouthful – but the article is an excellent read – even for those who aren’t interested in IT security. Sean has written some of the clearest explanations of how DNS works that I have ever seen. So, go take a look – learn about how DNS works (and yes, you are using it RIGHT now) and at the same time learn about some of the security threats facing the internet.